From Bottom to Top

Wherever Mainz end up in the standings at the end of this season, they'll have made history. Never before has a team finished the first half of a Bundesliga campaign in last place, with a mere 11points, and then won five of their next six games.

Unbelievable as it may sound, the 2006 cellar dwellers were the Bundesliga's best team in the first third of the season's second half. Given a snowball's chance in hell in December, the team went on an undefeated roll in January and February.

How did they do it? A number of factors have played a part in Mainz's recovery: precisely chosen additions to the squad, faith in a popular coach and perhaps some good will from their opponents.

Bremen castaways come up big

During the winter break, the Mainz management realized its 2006 squad wasn't up to the job and brought in striker Mohamed Zidan and midfielders Leon Andreasen and Elkin Soto.

"They targeted very specific needs, and they've strengthened the squad ideally," said Roland Hessel, a sports editor who follows the team for the regional Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Striker Zidan -- who spent last season with Mainz out on loan from Werder Bremen -- proved well worth the 2.5 million euro ($3.25 million) transfer fee Mainz paid to acquire him permanently. With six goals in five games, he revived Mainz's moribund attack.

The other new acquisitions have panned out as well.

"Leon Andreasen has assumed a special role as team leader," said Hessel. "He's helped the other players forget the first half of the season."

With Andreasen and Soto in the squad, Mainz tightened up its midfield, and that has improved a defense that led the league in goals allowed in December.

There are some clouds on the horizon. Andreasen will sit out Mainz's match against Aachen on Sunday after picking up a red card, and Soto is out approximately four weeks with injury. But Bremen, who only have 7 points to Mainz's 16 in 2007, still probably regret letting Zidan and Andreasen go.

Continuity with Klopp

In the first half of the season, coach Jürgen Klopp came in for some unaccustomed criticism, with detractors saying he was being distracted by his side job as a commentator for German national team matches.

But unlike Mönchengladbach, Hamburg and Bayern, Mainz decided to stick with their coach, who's known for his adolescent enthusiasm for the game and his motivational skills.

"The key was that Mainz is the sort of club that was prepared to go down with Klopp," said Hessel. "That's why he was allowed to stay.

"For Klopp, the first half of the season was a learning process," Hessel continued. "He knows now that soccer isn't just about having fun."

Klopp has, in fact, been much more intense on the sidelines in 2007, and his fraternal relationship with his players, especially the Zidan, has paid dividends.

A little help from their friends

Having finally achieved promotion three seasons ago after decades in the second division, Mainz' merry band of carnevalesque underdogs and their supporters quickly won fans throughout Germany.

Despite their impressive streak, Mainz haven't wowed anyone in 2007 with classy combinations. But perhaps the club's general popularity has had an unconscious effect on opponents, who have often seemed content to watch Mainz stumble to unlikely victories.

Case in point: Mainz' 2-1 upset of Hertha in Berlin in game 22. Klopp's troops played like total klutzes during the first half, before a wrongly awarded penalty and an out-of-the-blue strike secured them a win against their strangely passive opponents.

"It's not so bad losing to Mainz," one Hertha fan remarked after watching the match in a bar, "if it improves their chances of staying up."

Maybe, in their heart of hearts, Mainz's opponents don't really hate dropping points to a side that has brought such likeable fire to the weekly routine of the Bundesliga.

Hessel concurred: "The other teams would rather visit a club like Mainz next year than a club like Wolfsburg."

Rosy prospects

With 27 points and 10th place in the table, Mainz have positioned themselves well for the home stretch of the season. And in Zidan, Andreasen and Soto, they've added a trio for the future as well.

Mainz haven't yet completely pulled themselves out of the danger zone, but followers of the club are optimistic about the next three months.

"After the first half of the season, I thought they'd definitely go down," said Hessel. "But not any more. They have huge amounts of self-confidence so I think they can weather the inevitable rough spells. God knows, they've had experience enough with setbacks."